ULTRA-LUX

​​Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) have revolutionised lighting, sensing and communications applications from televisions and signage to biomedicine. It took a while, though. More than a century ago, scientists discovered that a silicon carbide crystal emitted a yellowish light when voltage was applied to it. LEDs became widely available commercially in the 1970s. Now, thin-film organic alternatives to semiconductor materials, called organic LEDs (OLEDs), are gaining ground. However, despite their many benefits relative to conventional LEDs, they are limited significantly in their brightness. Further, they cannot be easily used as a laser medium due to technical challenges with pumping, the process by which energy is supplied to the medium to raise its electrons to an excited state. ULTRA-LUX will address both these challenges to deliver the first ultra-bright, thin-film light-emitting device and a thin-film injection laser to complement it.